Meeting scene - HBO Chernobyl 2019 | Episode 02

In April 1986, an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics becomes one of the world's worst man-made catastrophes.
Creator: Craig Mazin
Stars: Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Jessie Buckley

[emilytrace]

I've had stressful work meetings but never "Eastern Europe will be uninhabitable for 100 years" stressful.

[philipb]

"60, yes." The balls it took to correct Gorbachev.

[danielzdanivsky]

I Googled “How to make a 5 minute board meeting scene more intense than hours of CGI explosions and gunfire” and I wasn’t disappointed.

[Spectre-]

“All victories inevitably come at a cost”
Funny how the ones who say this are never the ones having to pay said cost.

[kmoore]

This is an amazing scene. The meeting starts out with Gorbachev complaining about how the Chernobyl accident looks to the rest of the world from a PR perspective. As the briefing unfolds, those initial concerns seem totally trivial. The actress seated next the KGB chairman had one of the best 'oh shit' expressions I've ever seen.

[anatolydyatlov]

The look Shcherbina has when Legasov told him; "We'll be dead in 5 years", really just, wow

[BlauRFasan]

I love how Gorbachev is completely out of his element during the entire meeting but pulls some truism out of his ass at the end.

[chasargent]

The party members across the table, especially the woman and the general, are just great in this scene. They say nothing, but their reactions are so effective in communicating the threat.

[drpapa]

I like how Legasov refers to an imminent thermonuclear explosion as 'an additional problem'

[comradedyatlov]

"We're asking for your permission to kill... Three men."
I can't imagine the amount of stress that was just laid on Gorbachev's shoulders.

[j.verdikto]

Edit: I know it's been a tough year for everyone and that we've had a lot of time on our hands, but why does everyone in the comment section feel the need to explain the obvious logic of the scene in response to what was clearly intended to be a silly (not great, not terrible) joke?

Legasov: "But, we may have a solution"
Gorbachev: "AND WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU LEAD WITH THAT, COMRADE?"

[UCsiLZnBS-BnCzFi]

Gorbachev's expression when Legasov says: "48 to 72 hours".

[practicaltomato]

Gorbachev certainly carried thru a lot of soviet problems during his time

[Mark-xhmd]

God the guy playing Gorbachev is good! You can see the absolute look of "OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK" on his face

[MagronesBR]

3:40 Gorby is truly "Fuck this shit, I'm out"

[OreadNYC]

I don't even want to imagine the level of horror which Gorbachev must have been feeling at that moment...the realization that the lives of literally *millions* of people hang in the balance and hinge on what they decide in that room and that worse yet, they have no more than two or three days to act or else their fate is sealed.

[ZkyTw]

Imagine hearing " between 2 and 4 Megatons" size explosion next to nuclear reactors.... sob

[leesnotbritish]

Realizing: they didn’t really need his official permission, they just wanted to make sure he understood the gravity of the situation

[jimmichaels]

The way the the threat is presented...almost in monotone, technocratic language...is genius.

[thedeuce]

If I'm ever in a Management PD course and the instructor asks us for an example of a paradigm shift I'm quoting this scene. Going from "This is bad PR" to "tens of millions will die" in the space of a few seconds is a paradigm shift on a scale never before seen.